The Zone of Interest

Summary

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE

AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

From one the most virtuosic authors in the English language: a powerful novel, written with urgency and moral force, that explores life—and love—among the Nazi bureaucrats of Auschwitz.

"A masterpiece . . . Profound, powerful, and morally urgent . . . A benchmark for what serious literature can achieve." —San Francisco Chronicle

Martin Amis first tackled the Holocaust in 1991 with his bestselling novel Time's Arrow. He returns again to the Shoah with this astonishing portrayal of life in "the zone of interest," or "kat zet"—the Nazis' euphemism for Auschwitz. The narrative rotates among three main characters: Paul Doll, the crass, drunken camp commandant; Thomsen, nephew of Hitler's private secretary, in love with Doll's wife; and Szmul, one of the Jewish prisoners charged with disposing of the bodies. Through these three narrative threads, Amis summons a searing, profound, darkly funny portrait of the most infamous place in history.

An epilogue by the author elucidates Amis's reasons and method for undertaking this extraordinary project.